And Nothing Else Mattered
by Skye Maxwell
Summary: It had been so long since she had opened her eyes, since she had uttered a word. When Quinn wakes up in the hospital after her accident, she has one urgent request. Takes place after On My Way. One-shot.


**This one-shot takes place sometime after "On My Way." **

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><p><strong><span>And Nothing Else Mattered<span>**

Tears were pouring out of her eyes as soon as she opened them.

"Where is my baby?" she gasped, not looking around to see who she was asking.

Rachel jumped at hearing Quinn's familiar voice, but her eyes filled with tears as instantly as Quinn's had. She bolted out of her chair, nearly collapsing at Quinn's side.

"Quinn," Rachel said breathlessly, but Quinn didn't look at her.

She only continued to stare at the ceiling, the pain on her face growing, making the shocked Rachel cry even harder.

"Look at me, Quinn," Rachel begged, impatiently turning Quinn's face toward herself.

When Quinn's eyes locked on hers, Rachel got a glimpse of the terrible need that Quinn was feeling. It gave Rachel the sudden urge to run, but she didn't know why she would run or where she would run to.

"Beth," Quinn said firmly, staring Rachel down seriously.

The light bulb finally went off in Rachel's reeling mind, and she started shaking.

"Here!" she cried, waiting until her singular word registered with Quinn.

Rachel's face broke into a wrecked smile, and she grabbed Quinn's hand to kiss the back of it. She then ran out of the room looking half-crazed, calling over her shoulder to Quinn, "She's here!"

The next thing Quinn heard was Rachel screaming a name so loudly that even the most comatose patients in the hospital would have heard it.

"NOAH!"

Puck, who had just finished his visit with Quinn and was walking away from the room, stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Rachel.

"Don't yell! You're going to scare her!" he yelled at Rachel.

"Noah!" Rachel yelled, already bursting into another round of tears.

"Whoa," he said, walking back to her. "What did I do? I swear, I didn't steal anything this time."

"Quinn," Rachel said quietly, unable to form sentences.

She flailed one arm in the direction of Quinn's room, and Puck stopped breathing.

"Quinn wants Beth," Rachel managed to get out.

Puck nodded slowly, his mouth hanging open, but he didn't move.

"Go!" Rachel barked, snapping him out of it.

He tightened his hold on Beth so that he wouldn't drop her, and he walked as quickly as he could to Quinn's room.

When Puck entered the room with Beth in his arms, Quinn started sobbing loudly and uncontrollably, but she tried as hard as she could to keep her eyes open, so that she wouldn't miss a second of seeing her baby.

Beth started crying as soon as Quinn did, fat tears rolling down her face as she reached her little arms toward her mom, nearly jumping from Puck's arms. Puck gently sat Beth next to Quinn on the bed, but as soon as he let go, Beth fell onto her mother, sprawling herself over Quinn's stomach and chest. This made it even harder for Quinn to breathe, but she didn't dare move her precious baby an inch.

"I love you more than anything," she croaked, for once not exaggerating as she cried with her only child.

Puck's mind didn't allow him to fully realize that Quinn was awake until she spoke. It had been so long since she had opened her eyes, since she had uttered a word. Throughout her hospital stay, he had shut down, only showing hints of life when he had Beth with him. He had forced himself to be numb, but now that Quinn was awake…

He covered his mouth as he stared at what he still considered to be his family, although it had been torn apart, almost confused when his vision became blurry. His breaths became noticeably shallower, and tears that matched those of the other three in the room started falling from his eyes.

He was about to start hyperventilating when a small hand took hold of his and squeezed it tightly.

He looked down at Rachel, who gave a watery smile and said, "She's awake."

He swiftly wrapped his arms around her, and they leaned on each other, Rachel crying onto his shirt. Catching his breath, he released a long breath and then let out an exhausted, shaky laugh.

"She's awake," Rachel repeated, laughing too and pulling away to smile at Puck and wipe a tear from his face.

When they looked back at Quinn, she was planting kisses everywhere on Beth from her tiny fingertips to her perfect little nose.

"Mommy," Beth said between sobs and coughs, making Quinn go still.

"Since when can you talk, Baby?" Quinn asked weakly, but then she realized what word Beth had just said.

"Mommy," Quinn said through tears with a giant smile, nodding in disbelieving approval. "That's right."

"That smile," Puck whispered in awe, overcome with all the emotion he had pushed down for so long, temporarily forgetting about an entire lifetime of putting on a tough exterior.

Rachel squeezed his hand again and observed his face closely, half amazed at how he was acting and half not surprised at all.

Suddenly, Quinn zeroed in on the two of them, her eyes first going to Rachel's and then to Puck's.

"I love you," Quinn stated resolutely, the smile gone from her face. Hearing her own words, her expression softened, and she repeated, "I love both of you."

Rachel, momentarily speechless, looked up at Puck, expecting him to give a response.

When he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, she said, "We love you too, Quinn… s- so much…"

Her voice broke on the last two words, and she ran to Quinn's side, throwing an arm over Quinn and Beth and planting a kiss on Quinn's wet cheek.

Rachel began to ramble, "I love you too, Quinn. I missed you so much. I'm… I'm so happy," she said, brushing hair out of Quinn's face and kissing the top of Beth's head. "She missed you too, Quinn. She missed her mother."

Puck, who could currently not think for himself, walked slowly over to the other side of Quinn's bed. She turned her head to look at him, just in time to see him leaning down toward her. He also kissed her softly on the cheek, lingering there for a second, but after he did so, he backed away quickly.

"I love you too," he repeated, watching her as she took in his face and the tears that were still making their way down it.

He then looked away, sticking one hand in his pocket and running the other hand back through his mohawk.

She knew that his words were borrowed, but she also knew that his sentiment wasn't borrowed, that his version of the three words held something that Rachel's words or even Quinn's own words didn't.

"Especially now?" she said with something resembling a dry little laugh, not looking at him anymore.

"_Especially _now," he replied automatically, his tone allowing no room for doubt.

Those words, even though she had heard them before and had played them over and over again in her head like a broken record, made Quinn feel like she had the first time he had said them, forcing her to stare at him for a short infinite moment and then tear her eyes away. She bit her lip and looked to Beth, who seemed to have stopped crying as soon as Puck spoke.

"Especially now," Quinn whispered to Beth, pulling her closer and kissing her forehead.

The room went silent. Beth quietly played with Quinn's hair. Rachel pulled a chair up to the bed and stared at the pair of them, letting a new tear slip out once in a while.

Puck stayed where he was, standing away from the bed, his mind oddly blank aside from a few prevailing words, namely _alive _and _family _and _love. _

Beth soon fell asleep, and Quinn kissed her a few more times before closing her own eyes.

Both Puck and Rachel were instantly quietly terrified to see her eyes closed again, but then Quinn sighed, her eyes still closed.

"Hold my hand," she said softly, frowning because somehow a part of her was afraid that no one would fulfill her request.

Two hands immediately shot out, one small hand locking fingers with hers and one larger hand completely enveloping hers.

And that's when she squeezed her eyes closed even tighter, and her lips tightened into a thin line. Tears escaped from her stinging eyes yet again, falling into her tangled locks of hair.

Rachel placed her head on the mattress, pressing her face against Quinn's arm and closing her eyes, not letting go of Quinn's hand as she softly hummed a little melody. Quinn didn't recognize it, but it started to lull her to sleep.

Puck lifted Quinn's hand and covered it with his other hand as well, and then he leaned his warm forehead against the knot of hands. He unknowingly got her fingers wet as he shut his eyes and silently said a prayer, this time thanking God instead of begging him to give Quinn back.

Quinn let her tired eyes flutter back open for just for a second, but then she closed them again, partially because of the overpowering feeling that seeing these people around her gave her and partially because she knew that she was safe, that things were going to be okay.

"Thank you," she mouthed, not making a sound as the world gently fell away from her.

This was love.

All she wanted was someone to love her, and she had that.

She had always had that.

And nothing else mattered.

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><p><strong>Thank you.<strong>

**Love,**

**Skye**


End file.
